HERMIT WARBLER in CT

The Hermit Warbler that was originally found in Barkhamsted by Dave Rosgen on January 31st was relocated yesterday, February 7th. A search party of seven of us headed up this morning to spread out and scour the area of Dave's original one-off sighting, and [somewhat surprisingly] it did not take us more than an hour to relocate the bird! Fran Zygmont first spotted it just before 9am, and the warbler was observed pretty much constantly until Greg Hanisek and I left at 10:45am.

In the morning the bird seemed to prefer the riverbanks from the Route 318 bridge and immediately southward to the post office. Both west and east banks were used (mostly the sunlit west side), often foraging quite low...even on the ground at times. Later in the morning, as temps warmed up, it went a bit higher, and for several minutes it was seen foraging in the evergreens at the NW corner of the 4-way intersection that is immediately on the west side of the bridge (318 x 181/West River Rd).

As Dave mentioned in his initial report, this is likely a young male. It shows no signs of hybridization with Townsend's Warbler to my eye - the breast completely lacks yellow, it is only faintly marked on the rear auriculars, and the upperparts are gray with an olive tinge.

A huge Thank You and Congrats to Dave Rosgen for the great find, a second state record if accepted by ARCC.








Hermit Warbler
 - Nick

Comments

  1. I got to see the Hermit Warbler on Wednesday. We watched for him under the bridge (near the peanut butter!!). I love the way birders network. Thanks to Dave R. for his sharp eyes. (Personal thanks to Ray Belding for helping my novice bird friend and I get a Life Bird.)

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  2. First winter female - the streaks in the median secondary wing coverts tell you its age. Those streaks will not be in the spring molt

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